


Taken by Surprise

by moonstruckfool



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Inspired by The Dragon Prince
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-17
Updated: 2020-02-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:01:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22762888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/moonstruckfool/pseuds/moonstruckfool
Summary: He holds her gaze, lowering his hand. Her expression is inscrutable. She leans closer - closer - he can see the tears shining on her lashes, feel her breath on his cheek - closer - ought he move away? This can’t be proper - and sets her lips against his gently.
Relationships: Tina Goldstein/Newt Scamander
Comments: 2
Kudos: 73





	Taken by Surprise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Treagus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Treagus/gifts).



> Inspired by *that* scene in The Dragon Prince (which is an AMAZING show, you should watch it if you haven't). Is it too late to consider this a Valentine's fic?
> 
> Many thanks to the amazing Too_Much_Fandom for looking this over and correcting my characterisation! <3 ( click [here](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Too_Much_Fandom) to see her Ao3 page!)

He throws off the blanket with a frustrated groan. He's had enough of tossing and turning. It's no use - it's clear that he won't be getting any sleep tonight. Running his hands through his hair impatiently, he sighs. Small wonder, really, considering everything that's happened. Worrying means one suffers twice, but it's been a long time since following his mother's sage advice came easily - his once cheerfully optimistic and devil-may-care self is now but a distant memory. He's wanted to go back in time and smack his younger self for his stupidity and lack of consideration for the consequences of his actions, multiple times, but now all he wishes is that he'd thought to enjoy the freedom and innocence while it lasted. Since Paris - no, since her letters had stopped… or even earlier, in New York? He doesn't know - all of that has changed; utterly, irrevocably. Things will never be the same again. 

Well, there's no use his sitting around and moping about it. He hasn't anything to do; he should try to make himself useful. The myriad books and boxes and household supplies that make up the Goldsteins' belongings rise in heaped piles around him - he has barely enough room to get off the sofa he was supposed to spend the night on and sidle towards the hall. Tina has enough going on as it is; the least he can do is to help her sort out her and Queenie's things. It's why he's here in the first place, after all - there's no way she'd be able to clean the place up and move out by Friday afternoon all on her own. Or that's the reason he gave her; truthfully, his main reason for visiting New York is to provide her with emotional support, which despite her frequent insistence that she's perfectly fine, he can see she needs. He's all too happy to categorise things and move boxes if it means he can be there for her. Just a quick trip to the bathroom, and then he'll start with… that pile next to the window.

He's picking his way carefully back down the hall, trying not to knock things over, when a sound startles him. He puts his hand out to the wall on his right - oh, that's not a wall, it's the door to Tina's bedroom - to steady himself, listening carefully. The sound comes again from the right, a muffled sort of sniffing, and some part of him registers that it's the sound of someone sobbing - Tina sobbing.

"Tina?" he whispers to the door. 

There is no reply. 

"Are you all right in there?" he tries, a little louder, then curses himself. Of course she isn't! 

She must not have heard him; the sound of weeping continues. 

Should he go to her? Perhaps she wants to be left alone. She's been brusque and distant the whole time he's been here. He knows she's anxious and unhappy - how can she not be, with her sister in the clutches of Gellert Grindelwald? - and has been careful to give her her space. Maybe that's what she needs now? He makes to continue on his way, but stops. Surely she's had enough time to herself? Being left alone with her thoughts probably isn't helping, if she's going over what happened with Queenie again and again and blaming herself for it. He ponders this and changes his mind. What she needs now is love and care, and she won't get that if he leaves her to sink into a pit of despair. 

With that, he knocks softly on the door. Without waiting for a response, he slides it open and steps into the room. He can just make her out in the dark - she’s sitting on Queenie's bed, hugging a pillow, legs crossed. She turns away from the door when she hears him. 

"Tina…" he begins, unsure of what to do. Her shoulders heave with her sobs, and he walks forward tentatively.

"Tina, it's okay." He puts a hand on her shoulder gently, trying to comfort. 

She flinches slightly, then shrugs it off gently. "Newt, I'm sorry. I can't do this right now." She slides off the bed and strides towards the door. 

Bewildered, he gropes about for a light. Damn, he's left his wand in the living room. He walks across the room, pats the bedside table - yes, there it is! - and picks up Tina’s wand, lighting it hastily and following her out of the room. What on earth should he have done? 

He finds her at the kitchen table, her back turned pointedly. Before he can speak, she hunches forward, hugging herself. 

“Please leave me alone, Newt. I don’t want you to see me like this.” Her voice cracks as she says his name, and the sound goes right to his heart.

“It doesn’t matter to me if you're crying. I’m here for you,” he says, laying a hand on her arm.

She gets up so suddenly that he nearly drops the wand. She turns to him angrily. 

“I’m a mess, okay?” 

He can see the tracks of tears on her face in the dim light emanating from his Lumos. Her nose is dripping and her hair is ruffled from sleep (or in a futile attempt to obtain it?), and it breaks him to see her like that. But it’s not because she’s a mess. Merlin forbid she ever think that!

“No, you’re not, not at all, it’s okay-”

“I’ve lost everything. My sister, my work, my home! There’s nowhere I belong now.”

“Tina, that’s not true. You’re going through a hard time, that’s all. ”

“That’s not all! It’s me, and it’s all my fault. I failed her. I let her down. I don’t blame her for leaving me. I’m a horrible sister, and a horrible Auror.” She notices what he’s holding. “Is that my wand? I left it on the nightstand, didn’t I? What sort of Auror does that? It's no wonder I got fired! If you were a Dark wizard I'd be long dead! I-"

"Tina, stop it!"

Taken back by the sharpness in his voice, she stares at him in stunned silence. "What?"

Now that he has her attention, he continues in a softer tone. "Please, you must stop saying these things, you're not making any sense. Listen to me." He inhales and forces himself to look her straight in the eye.

"You're the last person who should be thinking like that - you're too wonderful to be feeling so bad about yourself. I know that, and you should too." He takes advantage of her momentary stillness to set down the wand and take her hands in his. 

"You have courage, Tina, and a big heart. I've seen you encounter difficulty after difficulty, seen you fall down so many times, and every - single - time, you get up again. Do you know how admirable that is? You're a great Auror, and I mean it in a good way. You've all the good qualities of one and none of the bad. You've gone middle head, remember?" He grins at her. "And I'm pretty sure the Niffler likes you better than me."

It has the desired effect. She raises a hand to swipe at her eyes, and gives a shaky laugh - the same sound she'd made that day at the docks when he'd offered to come back to her. Has it really only been a year and a half? So much has happened since. He laughs with her, cherishing the mirth in those salamander eyes.

"Well, it's no surprise if he does. You're always telling him off for one thing or another!"

He feigns indignation. "I wouldn't have to tell him off if he didn't need telling off, now would I? He has to set a good example for the babies." Smiling, he drops the act. “See, you know you’re amazing. You’re smart, and strong, and beautiful.” He reaches up almost subconsciously to touch her hair, just as he did all those months before. She reddens, the corners of her mouth turning up ever so slightly. 

“Tina, you’re the most amazing person I’ve ever met.” He holds her gaze, lowering his hand. Her expression is inscrutable. She leans closer - closer - he can see the tears shining on her lashes, feel her breath on his cheek - closer - ought he move away? This can’t be proper - and sets her lips against his gently. 

He panics, squeezing her hand a little too hard, and almost stumbles over a chair in his haste to get away. She lingers for a moment, not noticing his distress, then pulls back, a small smile on her face. She looks into his eyes, and then her expression changes completely. She backs away quickly, opening her mouth.

He rushes to explain. “I - that’s not what I was expecting.” His heart pounds in his throat. He hopes he hasn’t offended her, he just… 

A frown appears between her eyebrows, and she looks away, embarrassed.“You were saying all those things, so I thought-”

“No, I mean, I wasn’t saying those things so you would… “ He gestures awkwardly to his mouth. 

“I’m really, really sorry, Newt, I - I’ll go now, okay? We can walk away, and pretend this never happened. Is that-”

He catches her by the arm as she turns away, shoulders slumped. “No!”

“What?” She refuses to look at him. “Newt, I said I’m sorry, I should never have-”

He puts a hand under her chin and turns it, forcing her to face him, and silences her by running a thumb over her lips. 

“Tina, when I said I didn’t expect it, I just meant…” How is he to explain it to her? When he said he wasn’t expecting it, that was all he meant - never in a million years had it occurred to him that she’d want him, now, what with all that about her sister and his supposed engagement and her having lost her job. True, she had said she’d stopped seeing that Tolliver guy, but he hadn’t thought… wouldn’t have dreamed… “You startled me, is all, Tina. I didn’t mean for you to think that it wasn’t welcome.” He doesn’t wait to see her face, gathering her into his arms and kissing her soundly. It’s her turn to startle, her body stiffening in his arms, but she relaxes and responds with equal fervency.

When they come up for air, breathing heavily through their noses, he rests his forehead against hers. 

“Everything will be all right, okay? You’ll come and live with me in England, and we’ll get her back. I know we will.” 

She looks at him with unspeakable tenderness in her fire-in-water eyes, and presses her lips to his once more.


End file.
